Numbers to remember from the season's first half

The Flyers' Mike Richards has scored twice while playing 3-on-5 in his past three seasons.

The 2007-08 NHL season reaches the halfway mark this weekend (some teams have already made the turn and are into the second half of their seasons). Here’s a by-the-numbers look at some of the highlights of the first half:

1 -- Goals scored by a team while killing a 5-on-3 power play. Philadelphia’s Mike Richards scored on Oct. 9 in Vancouver while his team was two men down. Amazingly, it’s the second time in his three NHL seasons that Richards has scored with the Flyers playing 3-on-5.

2 -- Players who have 30 or more goals at the halfway point of their seasons. Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk (33) and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (30) are on pace to become the first 60-goal scorers since 1995-96, when Pittsburgh teammates Mario Lemieux (69) and Jaromir Jagr (62) both broke 60.

3 -- Consecutive shutouts by Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo, who blanked Chicago, Anaheim and Columbus in a five-day stretch from Nov. 25-29. He’s the only goalie with a three-shutout streak, though San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov shut out Phoenix in three consecutive meetings.

4 -- Goals by Alex Ovechkin against Ottawa on Dec. 29, the most he’s had in a game in his career, but one less than the five-goal night by Marian Gaborik against the Rangers on Dec. 20, the first five-goal performances in the NHL in nearly 11 years.

5 -- Assists by Florida’s Tomas Vokoun, the most by any goaltender so far this season.

6 -- Regulation wins by Edmonton, the fewest in the League. The Oilers have stayed competitive with 11 victories after regulation time ended.

7 -- Shutouts by Columbus’ Pascal Leclaire, tops among goaltenders this season -- and two more than he’d had in his NHL career before this season.

8 -- Games lost by the Toronto Maple Leafs after the end of regulation time, the most in the NHL. The Leafs have lost five games in overtime and three (all at home) in shootouts.

9 -- Consecutive games won by Detroit and New Jersey, the longest winning streaks in the League this season.

10 -- Shootout wins by the Edmonton Oilers, in 12 tries. With half a season to play, the Oilers are just two behind the NHL record of 12, set by Dallas in 2005-06.

11 -- Rounds in the shootout between Florida and Washington on Nov. 28, the longest shootout this season. Florida won the shootout 4-3 when Stephen Weiss scored against Olaf Kolzig.

13 -- Games in which the Los Angeles Kings have scored first, the fewest in the NHL. At 5-7-1, the Kings are also the only team with a sub-.500 record when they do get the first goal.

14 -- Wins by the Detroit Red Wings in games decided by three or more goals, by far the most in the NHL — Montreal is next with 11. The Wings have lost by three or more goals just once, the fewest times in the league.

15 -- Combined goals by Calgary (9) and Tampa Bay (6) on Dec. 13, the most in a game this season. There had not been 15 goals scored in any game since Toronto beat the Islanders 9-6 on Dec. 19, 2005.

16 -- Wins on the road by the San Jose Sharks, whose 16-3-2 record away from the Shark Tank is by far the best in the NHL. Their 6-9-4 home record in the second-worst in the League.

17 -- First-period goals by the New York Islanders, by far the fewest by any team in any period this season. No other team has fewer than 26.

18 -- Goals in his last 16 games by Calgary’s Jarome Iginla, who had 29 at the season’s midpoint and scored twice in Game 42, a 3-2 overtime win at San Jose. Calgary is 11-1-4 in those 16 games.

21 -- Goals scored by Dallas center Mike Ribeiro, three more than he had all last season, when he had 18 but led the team in scoring with 59 points.

22 -- Consecutive games by the New York Islanders (Nov. 3-Dec. 19) without scoring more than three goals.

30 -- First-half wins by the Detroit Red Wings, one more than any team in NHL history at this stage of an 82-game season.

31 -- Plus rating of Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, the best in the NHL. Ottawa’s Dany Heatley is second (and tops among forwards) at plus-30.

40 -- Games started by San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov, the only goaltender in the NHL to start all of his team’s games this season. Going back to last season, he’s started the Sharks’ last 47 regular-season games.

71,217 -- Fans who packed Ralph Wilson Stadium on Jan. 1 for the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic, the largest crowd in League history — and the same number who will never forget the sight of Sidney Crosby skating through the snowflakes to score the game-winner in the shootout.

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I don't have a crystal ball. Predicting is a real complicated thing. If we stay healthy, have enough depth and get the good goaltending we think we're going to have, you can go all the way. But a lot of things have to happen. There's going to be a lot of teams that think the same thing. Everyone made deals. We're all are optimistic about where we'll end up.

— Rangers general manager Glen Sather after being asked if he's constructed a team that can win the Stanley Cup before their 4-1 win against the Predators on Monday